Busy in the City

New York is a busy place, and we are staying just off Times Square, the busiest part of the city. The children are overwhelmed by the noise and the activity, and would rather stay in the safe confines of our wonderful hotel room. We did get to the M&M store and ToysRUS (at Maya's insistence) and both Maya and Belina tolerated a long wait in the TKTS line. We got to the end of the line and did not get the Disney musical tickets we had hoped for. Instead, we saw Blithe Spirit, which I only realized halfway through was not exactly children's fare. Tara was in the play last summer in Princeton and because it was Tara, Maya was excited and interested. Without her sister to clap for, Maya was less enthused and Belina was simply polite. This despite a delightful Angela Lansbury and a very suave Rupert Everett.

Maya expressed boredom and when I challenged her, changed her tune and asserted her preference for the country and peace and quiet. When our Ecuadorian friend Erika was here last year, she too expressed her dislike of the noise and action of the city and her wish to be in Quito, or the jungle, or even Balitmore.

I feel incredibly lucky to visit New York regularly. In fact, I think I have enjoyed the city more than Tara has. Every visit has been exciting and interesting and adventuresome and I feel that I will never tire of it. There is simply too much to see and do and experience and I expect I will keep coming back for more. The place is special for Tara and I because we came for the theatre and would binge on plays when we visited. I am sure that is part of why she has chosen to pursue acting.

I bothered the hotel maid when she said she did not speak English. I asked where she was from and it was Cuenca, Ecuador and she had been in New York two years. I babbled in Spanish and told her about our impending move to Ecuador but she was not particularly interested. I wondered if she was thinking that we were crazy to move to Ecuador for a year when we could stay in this gorgeous hotel. Or perhaps she wishes she could return and misses her family and life there. Who knows. I was amazed that she could live here two years without learning a word of English. I understand that a big portion of the GDP of Ecuador comes from money sent home from Ecuadorians working outside of Ecuador.